Agricultural Information Network For Ethiopia : Need, Functions and Implementation Strategy

No Thumbnail Available

Date

1992-06

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The relevance and viability of cooperative approach by forming a network of existing information service units in the country to address commonly faced shortcomings in agricultural information provision was assessed and discussed. A review of literature on various aspects of information ne tworking was made mainly to draw up a general framework and basic pri nciples essential to asse ss viability, to determine possible and viable areas of cooperation and to establish the particular type of net work required. A preliminary survey on problems, resource capability and attitude to networking on the existing information service units in Ethi opia using questionnaire supported by selected interview was conducted. The results revealed shortages in information sources, skilled personnel, and equipment and facility; and cumbersome organizational structures are widespread. standardization and bibliographic control tools are also a bsent. Local publications are neglected areas. Financial resource limitations are major problems. The information services provided are limited to reading and lending services by large. All these are constraints in the improvements . of the services immedi tely. staff will i ngness to appr oach , the" existing problems cooperatively was high. Also surveyed with a different questionnaire were agricult ural information users of the surveyed information service units so as to assess their reaction to and opinions about the available servi ces which t he ne t wor k could t ake into cons i de r ation as i t s ultimate goal. Al t hough at present books are t he most used, journals and loca l pUblica t ions are rep o r ted t o be in great demand. Liter ature s e a r ch, phot ocopying, doc ument delivery are a lso requi red. The ma jority are dissati s f i ed with their in forma t ion servi ce units beca us e their information ne eds are not met. However, many seem to appreciate a cooper ative approach to the ser vices although at present many are less frequent us ers of other similar information units in the country. Taking into consideration what is affordable by the existing units on the one hand and the need to addr ess t he pressing problems on the other, feasi ble areas for a network were identified ,namely, establishing union c atalogues of holdings and list of local publications, limited interl ibr ary loan, t raining and standardization with focus on laying the g r ound for further wider cooperation leading towar ds meeting the expressed as well as generally r equired needs of users and to assist the services achieve better standards of service and r esource base. Recommendations are made to initiate the network and make it operational.

Description

Keywords

Agricultural Information, Network For Ethiopia, Need, Functions

Citation